Evaluating and measuring: applying a management perspective on sports. Best papers from the "Sport as a Business" track at the EURAM annual meeting, Tallinn 2011.

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Sport, Business and Management

ISSN: 2042-678X

Article publication date: 5 October 2012

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Citation

Dolles, H. and Soderman, S. (2012), "Evaluating and measuring: applying a management perspective on sports. Best papers from the "Sport as a Business" track at the EURAM annual meeting, Tallinn 2011.", Sport, Business and Management, Vol. 2 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm.2012.51202caa.002

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Evaluating and measuring: applying a management perspective on sports. Best papers from the "Sport as a Business" track at the EURAM annual meeting, Tallinn 2011.

Evaluating and measuring: applying a management perspective on sports. Best papers from the “Sport as a Business” track at the EURAM annual meeting, Tallinn 2011.

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, Volume 2, Issue 3.

About the Guest Editors

Harald Dolles is Professor in Sport Management at Molde University College, Specialized University in Logistics, Molde (Norway) and Professor in International Business at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg (Sweden). Harald frequently contributes to scientific development in the fields of international business, Asian studies and sports management. In this regard, he has a publication stream of articles and books, most recently Handbook of Research on Sport and Business (Edward Elgar, 2012, with Söderman); (Sports Management and Mega Events: J-League Soccer and Mega-Sports Events in Asia) (Bunshindo, 2012, with Takahashi, Hayakawa and Söderman); Sport as a Business: International, Professional and Commercial Aspects (Palgrave MacMillan, 2011, with Söderman); “Innovation, creativity, competitiveness and globalization – European and International Perspectives” (International Journal of Business Environment, 2010, with Fernandes). Harald is Immediate Past-Chair of the European Academy of Management (EURAM) Special Interest Group on “Sport as a Business”.

Sten Söderman is Professor of International Business at Stockholm University, School of Business (Stockholm, Sweden) Previously he was a Professor at Luleå University of Technology and a business consultant specializing in startups (in Manila, Geneva and Brussels). His research has focused on market strategy development and implementation and is currently on the international expansion of European firms in Asia and the reverse and the global entertainment economy. He is the author and editor of many books, case studies and articles. His most recent publications include Handbook of Research on Sport and Business (Edward Elgar, 2012, with Dolles); (Sports Management and Mega Events: J-League Soccer and Mega-Sports Events in Asia) (Bunshindo, 2012, with Takahashi, Hayakawa and Dolles); Sport as a Business: International, Professional and Commercial Aspects (Palgrave MacMillan, 2011, with Dolles). Sten Söderman currently chairs the European Academy of Management (EURAM) Special Interests Group on “Sport as a Business”.

The overall theme of the EURAM 2011 Annual Conference in Tallinn 2011 was the management of culture in organizations. Organizational culture represents valid corporate past experiences and could be observed as a system that amalgamates values, beliefs, strategies, behaviours, goals and philosophies. Organizational culture may form traditions and norms. It also might influence the creation of routines and procedures, which are useful in order to achieve successful and sustainable development. The “Sport as a Business” track organized by the SIG on “Sport as a Business: Internationalization, Professionalization, Commercialization” at the EURAM Conference followed these thoughts and aimed to investigate deeper into the specific organizational culture of institutions in sports, their specific characteristics and their strategies to achieve success.

We are grateful to Emerald for continuing the strong bonds between the SBM journal and the EURAM “Sport as a Business” SIG by sponsoring an annual best paper award and a best reviewer award. The best paper award in Tallinn was presented to Alexander Kern, Armin Wiedenegger and Michael Schwarzmann (Institute for Strategic Management and Management Control, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna, Austria) for their paper entitled “Measuring the efficiency of English Premier League football: a two-stage data envelopment analysis approach” (included in this volume). The best reviewer award was presented to Mathieu Winand (post-doctoral researcher at the Olympic Chair in Management of Sport Organizations, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). The Award Committee was chaired by Patricia Hogan (Northern Michigan University), James Santomier (John F. Welch College of Business, Sacred Heart University) and Benoit Senaux (Coventry University, Business School). We wish to thank the Award Committee and all the reviewers of the track for their excellent work.

Out of the 22 accepted submissions to be presented in Tallinn and in addition to the award winning paper, we selected the following four papers for this special issue based on the overall positive reviews and close to the cohesive theme of the special issue on “Applying a management perspective on sports”. These were Neil Moore and Roger Levermore on “English professional football clubs: can business parameters of small and medium-sized enterprises be applied?”; Tor Brunzell and Sten Söderman on “Board evaluation in the top Nordic football clubs”; Mathieu Winand, Thierry Zintz and Jeroen Scheerder on “A financial management tool for sport federations”; and James Santomier and Robert Gerlach on “Public policy and funding New York's new sport venues”.

In the award winning paper “Measuring the efficiency of English Premier League football”, the authors prove the superiority of a two-stage data envelopment analysis compared to a one-stage approach in measuring a football club's efficiency. This paper – and others in this special issue – is in line with the last two decades of sports studies and sports management journals which have called for research in sports management that explores sports links to mainstream management analyses. Moreover, the Austrian research team provides best practice benchmarks, which supports the football managers to orient themselves to other clubs. A non-parametric two-stage data envelopment analysis was applied to measure the efficiency of English Premier League football clubs from an off-field and an on-field perspective. The results show evidence that different conclusions derive from either the one- or the two-stage approach with the threat of potential misinterpretations in the case of the former. Furthermore, this study provides football clubs with information to focus on specific efficiency-enhancing strategies at the individual stages of the production process and therefore acts as a supportive tool for the football club officials for setting corrective actions if inefficiencies are identified.

In the second paper, Neil Moore and Roger Levermore argue that in many ways English professional football is dominated by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which have a different dynamic compared to larger entities and should be evaluated accordingly. The analysis is drawn from interviews with key individuals in the English professional football industry, who provide an account of the business practices. Conclusions are: first that the sports industry can be regarded as one that is largely constituted of elements that are ascribed to characteristics associated with SMEs either in entity size, turnover or organizational culture; and second that much analysis of the administration and management of the sports industry fails to assess the sector through the prism of SME “modelling”. The value of the paper implies that the “SME perspectives” help to explain what might appear to be their idiosyncratic characteristics.

In the third paper by Tor Brunzell and Sten Söderman the purpose is to answer the question how the evaluation of the board of directors in the top Nordic football clubs affects the boards’ composition and work. This empirical study includes all football clubs in the two top men's divisions in each of the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). The investigation makes use of a questionnaire where chairmen of the clubs answer questions concerning the organizational culture of board composition, evaluation and work. Descriptive statistics demonstrate that more than half of the clubs have an annual board evaluation. Most common is that the chairman performs the evaluation himself/herself with the help of designated board members; the evaluation being performed through informal discussions. Totally 44 clubs have a nominee committee. Almost all of the clubs transmit the result of the board evaluation to its nominee committee, most commonly verbally. Furthermore, results show that board evaluation has a significant positive effect on various functions of football boards.

The fourth paper by Mathieu Winand, Thierry Zintz and Jeroen Scheerder aims to develop a tool to manage financial performance of sport federations. It stimulates thinking about the necessity for non-profit sport organizations to develop financial performance measures and management to survive and/or to grow. The approach includes developing a model of factor analysis through financial ratios in the sport federation context, and a framework is developed for financial performance measurement of sport federations in Belgium. Conclusions are the construction of six financial performance-related categories: public funds dependence; financial balance; attraction of resources; financial budget; member services investment; and elite services investment. These six types form the basis of a dynamic strategic management tool where financial categories are related to each other. The tool developed should help managers of sport federations to make strategic decision relying on financial information in order to pilot their organization and to communicate with their stakeholders. The originality of the paper is that financial performance measurement of non-profit sport organizations is challenging and considerably different from for-profit and non-profit organizations. It provides researchers and practitioners with a viable model for analyzing financial strategy and performance of sport federations over time.

Finally James Santomier and John Gerlach, in the fifth paper, examine selected public policy and funding issues of six New York Metropolitan Area sport venues and indicate their implications for evaluating sport venue construction. A systematic review and evaluation of public documents and available research related to the recent development and funding of selected sport venues was conducted. It was determined that a complex mix of local, regional, and state politics has significantly impacted the dynamics of professional sport venue development in the New York metropolitan area. It is also apparent that there has been a significant lack of transparency with respect to public policy. In addition, it appears that sport venue development in the entire USA will experience a trend towards integration with retail, commercial and residential real estate development that appears to be a result of political pressure and the need to rapidly recoup investment costs associated with sport venue construction. This case study provides insights into the complexity of critical decisions that are involved in the development, measuring and funding of sport venues.

Harald Dolles and Sten SödermanGuest Editors

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